Austria drops probe into activists over NZ massacre

VIENNA: Austrian prosecutors said on Friday they had dropped an inquiry into far-right activists over possible links with the perpetrator of a massacre of Muslims in New Zealand in 2019.

Martin Sellner, the co-founder of the Identitarian Movement of Austria (IBOe), came under investigation together with some of his associates when it emerged that in 2018 he had received a donation of 1,500 euros from Brenton Tarrant.

White supremacist Tarrant killed 51 Muslim worshippers in attacks on two mosques in the city of Christchurch in March 2019.

Sellner admitted to having had contact with Tarrant on several occasions and prosecutors looked into whether charges could be brought against him or those close to him for "participation in a terrorist organisation".